Thursday, February 16, 2012

I Was All Thumbs

Best known for his books about Lyle (you know, Lyle, Lyle the crocodile?) who lives in a bathtub at East 88th Street, Mr. Waber created this out-of-print favorite as the harrowing memoir of a laboratory octopus who was put back out to sea.

I was to be put into the sea. Captain Pierre told me so.He said: "You will be happy there--in the sea. It is where you belong."I thought: Thank you very much. But what do you know of the sea?I knew nothing of the sea. My home, the only home I could remember, was a tank in Captain Pierre's laboratory.

So the poor dear is carried out to the ocean and cast off into the waves all the while crying, "You will be sorry for this foolishness, Captain Pierre!... You have not yet learned all the ways of the octopus! There are still mysteries, Captain Pierre... still questions burning for answers! There are secrets I take with me, Captain Pierre!... I promise, you will cry a sea of tears for your loss! In the name of science, Captain Pierre! Captain Pierre! Captain Pierre! Capt...!"

In a classic fish out-of- (or rather, into) -water tale, our hero must learn to be an octopus in the wild. Shooting ink. Cave dwelling. Solitary living. But when he comes to meet Captain Pierre again, he realizes that the sea is a nice place and that he "wouldn't dream of living anywhere else." The first person storytelling here gives the book a magical feel, and the drawings accented with splotches and swipes of watercolor are lovely.

Still alive and married after more than 50 years with the same bride, Ethel, Mr. Waber is a treasure. I have a special place in my heart for artists who served in WWII and still went on to create such wonderful books. Just marvelous!